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Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Paris Van Java - Just Like Bugis Junction IMHO @ Bandung [Indonesia]

Paris Van Java is known as the biggest shopping centre in Bandung and don't ask me what we were doing there since we had plenty of shopping malls back in Singapore.

A panorama i took showed the scale of Paris Van Java; it didn't have many levels and from the differing facades, i was under the impression it was made up of individual, standalone stores!

Since i didn't do much research about the place, i suggested going to the top floor and then walk down. Turned out the top floor was more like a kid zone with a children's playground which would be good news if we were travelling with our Jerald and Jovyn but we weren't.

Colourful spinning pinwheels - i always wanted to buy this for my house although i don't have a garden and i might just leave it to the dust as time goes by.

Can you guess where my mum and sisters spend the next hour? At Sogo! As i am not keen at all to waste my precious time at department stores that are commonly found in Singapore, i arranged to meet up with them later at a specified time.

Lined with shops of brands not uncommon to Singaporeans, the first thought that came to mind was "this felt just like in Bugis Junction" even though the air conditioning for the latter was much cooler and concept was "European" rather than "Asian"!

I didn't feel a big urge to shop though since i always prefer to buy branded products at home. Furthermore, the discount wasn't enticing enough. Hence, it's more like window shopping for me while waiting for the ladies.

Just like bugis junction, smaller stores marketed their wares through the kiosks along the walkway; i noted flower pattern plates that were popular when i was a kid and fridge magnets, just to name a few.

As i entered from one end of Paris Van Java, walking to the other end made total sense and it's time for me to venture indoors where the air conditioning would be stronger.

Comic figurines for sale.

Kids playing with hot wheels using a purposely built circuit. Even though the toy had a history stretching from 1968, i remember them from the late 80s when numerous catchy advertisements were shown on television.

It's always about the 360 degree turn!

A lot of people were crowding the Hot Wheels circuit around lunchtime; i presume there was some kind of competition with a good mix of adults and kids.

The inner section was like a dead town and it sure didn't sound too good on a Sunday when business should be roaring!

There's a Daiso too! Pricing was almost similar to Singapore and since the price difference wasn't great and it's not worth my time to trawl through a million items, i gave it a miss.

An A&W outlet - do you know that A&W is very much a memorable childhood memory for me and even more than MacDonald's! I remember the coney dog, their waffles, the curly fries and of course the marvelicious root beer float!

I had to get one mug!

Ventured to Carrefour - the first hypermarket in Singapore that had since bumped out! Nowadays, i would purposely visit overseas supermarkets just so that i can check out the pricing of their baking materials / ingredients; the Koepoe Koepoe Pandan paste was priced at 10,000 rupiah!

Noted that Indonesians use Blue Band margarine whereas the choice for Malaysians / Singaporeans is Planta; strangely, both fall under the same mother company; Unilever.

Ending our visit to Paris Van Java with lunch at Pepper Lunch! Yes, why pepper lunch and no some unique restaurant that i couldn't find in Singapore?! Why why why? I don't know as i recollect going along with the flow and didn't reject when my sister suggested the place.